Thanks for stopping by!

The ROYAL PRINCESS bridge cam will give you an idea of where I am in the world. Of course at night it will be . . . dah! . . . dark.

Whereever I am, on land or sea, I’ll be visiting with you right here every other day on even days, bringing you stories from Panama and the high seas.  

Windows in Olinda

I am fascinated by windows . . . not Windows . . . but windows of the world. Wherever I go, I like to photograph windows. Nowhere is this more fun than in Olinda, Recife, Brazil. Olinda is the original, “old town” of Recife, dating back to the time of the thriving trade in African slaves to work the Brazilian sugar plantations. Wisely the area has been preserved. There are brightly colored old buildings, cobblestone streets, and it is a fascinating place just to wander around.

We’ve been there several times when I did Tri-Continent cruises on the ROTTERDAM. It’s a hefty cab ride from the ship, but you can get there on public transportation. It’s not easy, since everyone speaks Portuguese, not English or Spanish, but with the help of a lot of kind people we found our way. Getting back to the ship was one of the truly special moments of travel. We were on the wrong bus, and we had the conductor and almost the entire crowded bus working to figure how to get us back to the ship. Who has paper? Who has a pen? Everyone was digging into their purses. It was a unique experience of people working together to help some poor gringos who were lost. Beautiful! Then to top it all off, a beautiful – read Brazilian knock-out beautiful – twenty something gal got off the bus with us, off her bus, to wait with us and see that we got on the right bus!

Anyway . . . I thought you’d enjoy some of the windows of Olinda.

It had to happen . . .

It had to happen . . . and I told you so . . . Disney Cruise Line is building two new ships and the DISNEY DREAM will feature the world’s first shipboard water coaster ride, called the “Aquaduck.”

Disney will also add additional “adult-only” areas . . . mind you, “adults-only” in a strictly Disney sense.

Cruise lines being cruise lines, and all being hard-wired with a lemming mentality, expect more cruise lines to introduce roller coasters on board. It’s enough to make you really appreciate a “small-ship experience” like that offered by ROYAL PRINCESS. Royal Caribbean has made a big splash with the new OASIS OF THE SEAS, almost big enough to make our little ROYAL PRINCESS feel like a lost lifeboat when we are docked together in Ft. Lauderdale. But Royal Caribbean does “get it” that not everyone is looking for a mall-at-sea experience. In 2007 they introduced a brand called Azamara. Not sure why they picked that name: maybe they wanted an easy to protect name, so manufactured one, or perhaps it was the only URL they could find. It certainly doesn’t roll off the tongue. Azamara is being marketed as an upscale small-ship experience that will focus more on land excursions and destinations, often remaining longer in ports with more overnights on itineraries. They have recently announced that they are repackaging the Azamara brand to focus more on unique destinations and extraordinary service, even raising prices to do away with nickel-and-diming guests for things like house wine with dinner, soda, coffee and bottled water.

Cruising in all of its various incarnations is alive and well, and you really realize it when you are in Ft. Lauderdale with eight other ships, most of them gigantic by comparison to ROYAL PRINCESS.

I remember back when the first cruise ships dared to depart Miami for Ft. Lauderdale and folks predicted that it would never last. Now Ft. Lauderdale greedily takes all these cruise tourists for granted. Many of the people who make their living dealing with cruise passengers coming and going from Ft. Lauderdale are curt and often downright rude. Being overweight and rude and disliking tourists seems to be the primary requirement to work for the Broward County Sheriff. If any of these guys, or gals, had to pursue anyone on foot they would have a cardiac arrest in the first block instead of arresting anyone. Seriously, if you aren’t 50 to 100 pounds overweight you can’t work for the Sheriff. I guess they are still strung out on doughnuts.

Already Royal Caribbean has moved one ship to Panama so people coming on a cruise vacation from Europe and South America can avoid the US. Carnival, Princess and Holland America, already doing Canal and Southern Caribbean itineraries should take a look.

People sometimes comment on “all the police” they see in different cruise ports, and note the fact that the police “have guns.” Granted, they have different uniforms and different-types of guns, but have these folks ever looked around Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Los Angeles or any other US city or port of entry. We have more cops and guns than anywhere! Cops don’t just carry their legitimate service revolvers, but are loaded down with spare and hidden weapons, and have the shotgun in their car. We’re just so accustomed to it, that we don’t see the cop overkill. Two days before Christmas we were in downtown Manaus. Hundreds of thousands of people, shopping in stores, and little kiosks, drinking beer, having fun – no gray barricades, no mobile “command center”, in fact no cops. Well, correction, yes there were about a half dozen cops . . . all drinking beer and talking to the pretty Brazilian girls like everyone else.

Funny thing in the US: the more cops, prisons, courts, and security we have, the less secure we feel . . . and are. And if the US ever lifts the embargo on travel to Cuba . . . Miami will be a ghost-town where people can just keep shooting one another, and Ft. Lauderdale will go back to being an alligator swamp which would be a big improvement for Ft. Lauderdale.

The Paper Balboa

In Panama the “Balboa” is a coin with the image of Balboa on the face. Wow! Bet you would never have guessed. Conveniently these Balboa coins come in the same denominations as US coins and are exactly the same, except for the images pressed onto the coins. We use US and Panamanian coins interchangeably. And when I go to the US . . . Panamnian coins work just as well as US coins in vending machines. So I love to put Panamanian coins in vending machines just to mess with the mind of the poor person who has to collect and sort the coins . . .

Today the only paper currency Panama uses is the US dollar. We commonly call it a “Balboa” and you will see prices marked B 10 meaning $10, but it is in fact the US dollar. This is one of the reasons that Panama is generally attractive to foreign investors or people from countries, like Venezuela, where the politics or currency is unstable.

I said once in a lecture that Panama had never printed its own currency, and at the end of the lecture a gentleman who had been born in Panama corrected me. In 1941 a Panamanian President, Arnulfo Arias, decided on his own without going through all the complications of government to issue paper Balboas. Who knows? This being Panama, maybe he had a brother-in-law who owned a printing company. At any rate 3 months later Arias was removed from office, with the support of the US government, and the new currency was burned. It is believed that only 3,000 or so survived.

But, with the exception of that one, brief period, the US dollar has always been the currency of Panama.

Money Money Money

Money! Money! Money! Today ROYAL PRINCESS is in St. Bart’s, playground of the rich and famous, winter home of the beautiful people . . . which, of course is why we are there! St Bart’s boasts more millionaires per square meter than anywhere else in the Caribbean. And it certainly seems that way!

We anchor out and tender guests ashore. Swells can be tricky so once in a while we can’t get in, so end up in nearby St. Maarten. But when we tender in the tenders have to wend their way through a parking lot of gigantic yachts. It makes you wonder how folks make all of this money. I mean, everyone can’t be in the drug business.

Chris Columbus on his second voyage to the New World in 1493 named the island after his brother Bartholomew. The French were the first to settle St. Barts in 1648. The island would bounce around between France, England and even Sweden.

Today the island is a collectivity of France and has about 25 small hotels and guest houses that start at $5,000 a week and go up to $25,000 a week, and even higher.  A beachfront room at the best hotel/spa right now in season runs $2,500 a night!  It reeks of wealth and privilege. There are 14 beaches, all of which are open to the public. Everything else is expensive. Haviana flip flops, $8-10 in Brazil, are 25 Euros in St Bart’s! Gustavia, the capital and where we anchor, is a cute little town filled with designer clothing and jewelry shops.

There is a nice little beach called “Shell Beach” right in town. And particularly at this time of year, the local sport is celebrity watching. In February “anybody who is anybody” shows up to see and be seen.

Night Blooming Cactus in Panama

One of the things that amazed me most when we first drove up to Palmira, where our farm and new house are located, was the rows of pipe cactus along the road. Here were palm trees, pine trees, cactus, orange trees, and coffee all growing together!! It’s just a small part of the amazing variety of plants and trees that flourish in the rich volcanic soil at our altitude and moderate temperature.

These beautiful cactus are blooming now at the end of the dry season and the blooms are spectacular – 7″ long and 5″ across. They only bloom at night and by sunrise the flower is already drooping and dying. My daughter, the naturalist, tells me that like most night blooming plants the flowers are white to attract bats and moths who pollinate.

I thought you would enjoy seeing some pictures of these cactus in our yard.

Royal Update

First, some business items . . .

I am on board ROYAL PRINCESS, so it is expensive and difficult to get on line, which is why I’m unable to do much right now by way of answering questions you all pose in comments. I promise that when I get back home I will go back through and answer them all!

Thanks to you, readership of my blog is increasing! Thanks! WordPress as many of you may know is a free blogging tool and very intuitive and easy to use . . . so you might think of doing a blog. However, free . . . well, it isn’t always free. So as readership increases you may find they have stuck ads on my blog as a way to generate income for WordPress. They aren’t MY ads. If anyone wants to sponsor my site, and have your ad on here, let me know, but until then you may see ads that make money for WordPress . . . not me.

Now, welcome onboard!

A month after Christmas bedraggled poinsettias still grace ROYAL PRINCESS as well as other left-over Christmas decorations that have yet to be removed. I guess in England the tradition is to hang onto them as long as they are alive. I tried to explain “tacky” but nobody seems to see the tackiness . . . maybe I’m just reacting to the fact that my mother used to try and hang on to poinsettias until Valentine’s day – a “2-for-1” flower. If that’s the case here, well, I guess we’ll be stuck with them for at least the next two cruises. Obviously I don’t get it. Nor do I understand why, when we are cruising the tropics, with an abundance of tropical flowers, we have dead and dying floral displays. It may be that nobody puts water in the container, but . . . even Royal Caribbean’s plastic flowers, might look better. In all fairness, ROYAL PRINCESS is the only ship I’ve ever been on where real potted plants look quite beautiful and healthy – all except the left-over Christmas poinsettias.

Maybe I just have too much time on my hands. 14 day cruise . . . and I only have 3 lectures scheduled, when I had planned for eight. Perhaps the ship doesn’t like people having to stand because all the seats are taken or maybe the folks who say they like my lectures are just being nice, who knows . . . I realize programming on a small ship is challenging with only one lounge in which everything must take place and which also must be used for rehearsals. I’ve been able to keep busy entertaining my daughter, Rebecca, for the first month, and my wife for the second month . . . ye gads, what am I going to do for the next two months? Maybe they’ll let me be the florist.

I did get pulled into a really fun project . . . narrating a video for Princess on the Amazon. We have a fantastic videographer on board who has worked on various documentaries including for National Geographic. It was fun . . . and since he is leaving the ship in a few days, we didn’t have much time. Finding a quiet place to record and film on a small ship is challenging, and the only place we could use was my cabin. The final product looks like it was filmed in a studio: actually it was filmed on my bed with a black backdrop.

Here’s our fantastic photo team awaiting a tender full of guests to arrive on Devil’s Island.

Nevis is “NEEvis”

Yesterday we got to visit Nevis and some of us did a fantastic catamaran ride to a bay in next-door St. Kitts. Nevis reminded me a little of St. Thomas thirty-five years ago when we first went there. A Caribbean island that still feels like a Caribbean island and not a mega shopping mall. Nevis, which I have been pronouncing in Spanish and not the proper “Nee-viss”, was first sighted by Chris Columbus who named it originally San Martin. Well, that name ended up going to another island, the one we call St. Martin today. Nevis was actually named after an old Spanish myth of a miraculous snowfall that happened in Rome attibuted to Nuestra Senora de las Nieves, Our Lady of The Snows. Apparently the clouds that frequently settle on top of Nevis peak reminded early travelers of snow . . . in the Caribbean . . . hence the name. Fun place as yet undiscovered by most cruise ships. Oops, now that we’ve been here can Diamonds International be far behind?

My Home-made Spiced Rum

 

Here we are in Trinidad today, home to some of the best rums in the world. There is something about drinking rum in the tropics . . . the tropics and rum are made for one another!

So here’s the recipe for Trinidad Rum Punch:

1 (measure) – freshly squeezed lime juice
2 (measures) – cane sugar (best dissolved in boiling water first)
3 (measures) – dark Trinidad rum
4 (measures) – water

Add a couple dashes of Angostura Bitters and, if you like freshly grated nutmeg.

I happen to like spiced rum. I’ve always liked Captain Morgan, although it’s expensive. When we came to Panama we discovered Panama Jack’s Spiced Rum: just as good for a whole lot less. $4.95 a fifth in Panama! Well, they stopped selling Panama Jack’s in Panama, although it was made here, and you can’t find Captain Morgan. We have two rum companies and they control rum in Panama. So, I found a recipe and decided to make my own! It’s easy! And it’s a whole lot cheaper than buying Captain Morgan in the states.

So, for all my cruise ship friends, who’ve heard me talk about my “secret recipe” in my rum & sugar lecture, here’s the recipe:

• 1 liter golden rum or dark rum
• 1 vanilla bean cut up or ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cinnamon sticks (3”)
• 4 whole allspice or a pinch of ground
• 1 whole nutmeg crushed
• 3 star anise
• pinch anise seed

Let sit 1 week more or less, depending on strength of flavor desired. You can experiment and get exactly what you like.

Since I can’t “make my own” on ROYAL PRINCESS it’s up to the Pool Bar for a Pina Colada!

Just Fly Nude

OK, so now all over the world airports are spending millions of dollars to take an anatomically correct picture of YOU . . . naked! All this, plus complimentary groping by TSA and other “security” agents . . . all to maintain the illusion that you are somehow “secure.” But, you have to wonder, if some radical-something-or-another is really determined to blow you and your traveling companions to kingdom come, how can anyone really stop it or insure security.

So since we’re all allowing nude pictures to be taken and presumably stored . . . I mean if the 6 inch appendage has suddenly become 10 inches (dream on!) the next time you fly . . . well that should tip someone off. So in this brave new world where very bit of data about you is stored by one government agency or another, of course they are going to hang onto your pics . . . and probably at some time or another use them for their own personal amusement. . . after all, people are people, regardless of all the BS about protecting privacy. Accept it; there just is no privacy anymore.

So my solution . . . that would save us a ton of money, eliminate long lines, put many of our favorite TSA back on welfare where they came from, allow us to fly securely and make flying a lot more interesting . . .

Just fly nude!

Think of what the airlines could save on stylish new uniforms ever other year. You’d eliminate all bulky carry on items. I know, people can stow all kinds of devices internally, where, ah . . . the sun doesn’t shine, so my solution for that . . . another security and cost saving device . . . is a simple seat that everyone sits on before boarding and it . . . well think of a cruise ship vacuum toilet on steroids. It would just suck out all the contraband . . . as well as providing a free colon cleansing, while at the same time reducing the overall weight of boarding passengers, saving energy, and eliminating the need for onboard aircraft bathrooms allowing more seats to be crammed in, reducing aircraft weight, and saving additional energy.

And for those who are compelled to become members of the mile high club . . . well have at it! Many airlines have already eliminated the movie equipment to reduce weight and save fuel, so we need some entertainment. However, most people, catching a glimpse of their fellow passengers, will just close their eyes and go to sleep.

So flying is about to become easier and safer . . . so start stripping.

The Unlimited Energy Source

In the late 70’s I wrote a column in about 50 weekly newspapers entitled “Positive Living In Tough Times”. Later many of those columns appeared in a paperback book called POSITIVE LIVING IN TOUGH TIMES. Although out-of-print, used copies are sometimes available on Amazon.com. I thought you might enjoy reading one of those pieces which is amazingly applicable to our present situation.

There are natural cycles and seasons to life that are part of the created order. It is not always summertime. Fall comes. And winter. But the promise of God is that he will be with you always, in all situations, through all problems, and through all the cycles and seasons of life. Even when the leaves are all blown off the trees, and the cold, howling winter winds come. When all is barren and cold and silent, God is still there! The winter will not last forever! The spring will come and life will be renewed. Renewed with strength and courage. Not only does God give us the strength and courage to face the winter storm, but the strength and courage to go on afterward.

The storms vary. They are not going to be the same for any two of us. They are not predictable. When they come they come. The storm for one is illness; for another, tragedy; for another, divorce. Failure. Disappointment. Financial loss.

But though the storms vary, God is with you through all of them to sustain you. And when the storms pass, as they will, He is with you to renew your life. It’s the Lord who gives you strength when your own strength is gone.

The famous American missionary-statesman, E. Stanley Jones, once told of an experience he had in a remote, mountainous place in India. Late in the afternoon he found himself in the path of an approaching storm. Great winds were mounting. Ominous clouds were churning across the darkened sky. All the small birds began to take cover. They flew into the bushes, snuggled inside hollowed logs, and nestled into the grass.  As Jones watched he saw a single great eagle fly up into a tree and perch on the highest branch. There it sat, facing the storm, arching its great wings. As the storm increased in fury the arched wings lifted the eagle from its perch and carried it effortlessly, high into the heavens. While the lesser birds cowered and hid from the storm, the eagle faced it squarely and was lifted, soaring into the clouds high above the storm.

“They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” [Isaiah 40:31]

When the storms of tough times come into your life, as they surely will, God will give you the strength and courage to face them and overcome. Given His unlimited energy source, you can endure no matter how hard the winds blow. When God made you He built into you a lot more strength and stamina than you’ve dared to imagine. And when the storms are over He brings back the springtime and restores your life. He gives you a new life and makes a new you. In your tough times God is the unlimited energy source!

Putting Piranhas in The Laundry Room

Almost two months into my current contract on ROYAL PRINCESS . . .

I’ve had a great room, inside passenger room, very quiet . . . until the other day when I got moved to the worst passenger cabin on the ship . . . right next to the passenger laundry! Whatever you do, when you are booking a cruise stay away from the laundry and next to elevators! So now from 8AM until 10 PM I hear washers going into the spin cycle banging on the wall, the backs of dryers clicking, and everyone visiting and talking. Yuk! As if that isn’t bad enough, at 12:30 AM I was awakened to the sound of the plumber snaking out the laundry pipes right behind my bed!

These are the cabins crew usually get stuck with, but not generally contractors and guests. I’ve had worse when I have been crew. We once had a gigantic inside cabin, almost like a hotel suite, on a ship in a crew area called “San Andreas Fault” . . . and the cabin was right above the screws and vibrated like an earthquake. I’ve also been on V deck, as in Jules Verne . . . where you go down, down, down, down. At least that cabin had the consolation of having a built in aquarium.

On ROYAL PRINCESS I’ve gotten great comments from our guests . . . but the ship staff is very close-mouthed. Maybe I’ve angered the gods on board, I don’t know. I’m used to reading all the guest comments on board and being part of a team. My thought is that if folks know how they are doing they will improve if necessary, or be motivated to work even harder. Hmmm. We shall see . . .

Anyway we’ve had great weather so far for the Amazon. Today is really the first rainy day. This morning as we were stickering people for tours at least one lady was upset that her new hairdo (think “Hairspray”!) might get wet and thought we should cancel the tour – “Madam, this is the rainforest!” In two weeks since we were here in Manaus the last time, the Amazon has gone up about 6 feet. Most people think all this water comes from the rain, and we are entering into the rainy season. However, 70% of the water in the Amazon comes from the snow melt high in the Andes Mountains. Lest you wonder why the snow is melting at this time of year, when most of North America and Europe is in the grips of snowy weather, remember, this is the SOUTHERN hemisphere and so now is the time the snow is melting. It is going to be fun over the next two months to watch the river rise.

Yesterday I went on a fantastic, 13 hour tour . . . we sailed up the river to a jungle lodge where we had a fantastic lunch, and then trekked through the rain forest with an excellent guide who taught us jungle survival skills, visited a tiny village, and then took small boats into the “flooded forest.” As the river rises it floods vast areas of forest where trees have become acclimatized to the annual flooding. Many of the fish seek out these lakes and areas sheltered by the 3-5 knot Amazon River current as places to spawn, which also brings an abundance of birds, caiman and snakes to feed.

There are about 30 varieties of piranhas in the Amazon, the most aggressive of which is the red piranha. Often as the river then drops during the dry season fish find themselves trapped in these season lakes. To survive the red piranhas will attack and feed on caiman and themselves.

I may try and catch some of the red piranhas and stick them in the washing machines next door!

Well on our tour we had a fantastic glimpse into the world of the flooded forest. We returned to the jungle lodge as the sun set for a beautiful candlelight (no electricity) dinner. After dinner we walked down a long path through the rain forest lit by torches. I thought for a moment we might be headed for a “Tribal Council” and quite possibly might be “voted off the island”. Instead we boarded our little boats to sail off into the darkness surrounded by the sounds of the river and frogs to look for caiman. The tour was billed as “Alligator Sighting” which might have more aptly been called “Caiman Looking” since on our boat we never sighted any caiman. A couple of boats were able to find a few little caiman, but it was a fun experience never the less.

It was a two-hour ride down the river back to Manaus, and we finally got back on the ship at 12:15 AM.

My wife, Nikki, has been on board with me since Fort Lauderdale which makes it a lot more fun and the time flies by. I’d love to post more pictures, but Internet on board is slow and expensive.